Chapter Text
Breathe, and don’t look down
Know I won’t let you fall to the ground
Free, won’t get much more
Never let your feet fall on the floor
The last few minutes had been a blur for Gyro Gearloose. One moment, he was safely inside the Sunchaser; the next, he was free-falling through the air, scared out of his mind.
He saw Lil’ Bulb, and swam through the air to grab him. Then Boyd swooped in, thrusters and all, and nabbed his father and brother, flying all three of them down to safety.
In that moment, Gyro should have still been scared, but he wasn’t. Sure, he was still hurtling through the open air, but now he had his two most cherished creations, his sons, with him (one of whom was bringing them all down), and if he could see himself in a mirror right now, he probably wouldn’t even be able to begin to describe the look of pure joy and relief on his face. They were his family, and he was glad to have them as a safety net.
Before long, all three made it to the ground. They were standing on a barren piece of land, not far from where the Sunchaser had crashed.
Gyro took some deep breaths. He had to compose himself after that free-fall.
“Thank you, Boyd,” he said at last. “That was…rather harrowing, but I’m glad that you were there to catch us.”
“No problem, Dr. Ge-Dad.” Boyd caught himself. He had to admit, he was still getting used to all this, so he occasionally slipped up in what he called him, but there was no denying how he felt about the doctor.
Gyro knelt down and hugged Boyd tightly, as if his life depended on it. He did not want to let his definitely real boy go. Even Lil’ Bulb joined in.
“—- -. . / - …. .. -. —. / .. … / ..-. —- .-. / … ..- .-. .; .. / .- — / -. —- - / -.. —- .. -. —. / - …. .- - / .- —. .- .. -.,” Lil’ Bulb blinked out.
“Don’t worry, little guy; we don’t have to,” Gyro replied. “If all goes according to plan, and Della and McQuack can get the plane fixed.”
“Speaking of which,” piped up Boyd, “where is everyone else?”
“Oh, I’m sure they won’t be long,” Gyro answered back. “Gradually falling through the sky and all.”
Suddenly, a streak of metallic white and red came hovering towards the trio.
“Looks like the lovebirds have made it,” Gyro remarked dryly.
“Fenton!” Boyd chirped. “And Gandra, too!”
Gyro nodded in confirmation.
Fenton and Gandra were happy that they didn’t have to search too long to find each other as they plummeted through the sky. Holding hands, they gazed into each other’s eyes and smiled, enjoying the moment, before Fenton engaged his suit and flew Gandra and himself down to the ground as Gizmoduck.
As they descended, Fenton, tired, was happy that the battle had been won, and that Gandra was safe and sound. The reality of the situation, on the other hand, was just hitting Gandra: she was free. No more F.O.W.L., no more carrying out bullshit schemes, none of that. It felt awesome.
Then she asked herself, ‘Okay, what is next, then? Eh, I can think about that when we touch down. I just wanna enjoy this.’ And she snuggled closer into Gizmoduck’s arms.
Eventually, they were close enough to landing that Fenton could just make out two-no, three-tiny dots on the ground. It was his family. His crazy little Team Science work family. He couldn’t have been more relieved to see them.
Shortly after, Gizmoduck’s unicycle made contact with the ground. Setting Gandra down gingerly, he called out, “Disengage!”, which caused his armor to detach from his body and disappear neatly into the duffel bag that suddenly appeared next to him. Before long, Fenton was again standing on the ground, right next to his trusty Gizmoduffel, which he slung onto his right shoulder, and made his way back over to Gandra’s side.
“Well!” Gandra gasped. “We’re back.”
“That we are,” Fenton replied.
Gandra pulled herself upwards slightly, just enough to plant a kiss on Fenton’s left cheek. “Thanks for the ride, Suit,” she said.
“Of course, cariño,” Fenton replied, wrapping her in a hug, making sure to keep the duffel against his own body. “Now, shall we get back to the others?”
“Alright,” Gandra grinned. And the two headed over to greet the Gearlooses.
“Dr. Gearloose!” Fenton called out.
Gyro waved, and the three made their way over to the couple, with everyone ultimately meeting in the middle.
“Cabrera. Dee,” greeted Gyro once Fenton and Gandra were within earshot.
“Doc,” Gandra countered.
“Fenton!” Boyd exclaimed. “I’m no longer just a head!”
“That’s great to hear, Boyd,” Fenton smiled, putting his hand on Boyd’s shoulder. “Oh! Boyd, I would also like to officially introduce you to my girlfriend.” He gestured to Gandra proudly. “Gandra Dee.”
“So this is the famed definitely real boy,” Gandra chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you, Boyd.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Gandra,” replied Boyd. An intrigued Gandra held out her fist in greeting, and the little parrot knocked it against his own.
The first thing she noticed about Boyd were his eyes. They were a bright electric blue, much like her own. Gandra never particularly found herself using this term often, but she thought he was really cute.
She then turned her attention to Gyro. Gandra wasn’t going to lie that she had a complicated history with the inventor. She electrocuted him when they first met. More often than not, when they had interacted, things were rather frosty. But today, while the two of them were tied up alongside Ludwig von Drake, Gandra finally got to apologize for said electrocution, and later, she and von Drake helped Gyro shut down the Solego Circuit before Donald was thrown into it.
“Okay, first question,” Gyro began, snapping Gandra out of her thoughts, “How in the heck did you get out of that vault in the first place, Cabrera, if you couldn’t use the Gizmoduck armor?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Fenton explained. “Launchpad used it to defeat all the villains.”
“What?!” Gyro wasn’t exactly comfortable enough with having many others outside of Fenton using the suit, and Launchpad in particular? Gyro was already nervous following the ejection from the Sunchaser, so he was caught off guard by Fenton’s answer.
“And I rebooted it!” Boyd offered. “Dad, don’t worry; Launchpad was fantastic. It was almost as if the armor fit him like a glove.”
“Of course, with a little encouragement from the rest of us heroes,” Fenton added, winking.
That made Gyro ease a bit. And clearly, the suit itself wasn’t any worse for wear, considering it got Cabrera and Dee back to the ground.
“Well, then,” Gyro responded. “Dee?”
“Yeah?” Gandra asked.
Fenton cocked his head towards Gyro, imploring him to go on.
“Cabrera and I have been talking, and he’s advocated for just how skilled you are. And, well, to reiterate myself, I certainly saw it on my own in all you did to help us take down that blasted Mark Beaks.”
Gandra rolled her eyes at the mention of Beaks’ name.
“So I have a proposition for you,” Gyro finished. “I was wondering if you would like to…join us in the lab?”
“Come on, Gandra,” urged Fenton. “It’ll be great. You’ll get to work on projects, and you don’t have to worry about them being used for ulterior motives! Most likely.”
Gandra looked at Fenton questioningly at his last remark. But the idea sounded nice, all the same.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Gandra agreed. “But I would like free reign to pursue my own projects whenever possible. You know, kinda freelancing it.”
The three adults exchanged glances.
Gyro sighed. “Fine,” he resigned. “Welcome to Team Science, Gandra Dee.” And the two shook hands.
“Team…Science?” Gandra questioned.
“Yeah!” Fenton replied. “It’s kind of our thing. Like Drake, Launchpad, and I have Team Hero, and Webby and her friends have Team Magic.”
“A bit on-the-nose,” Gandra responded.
“Well, have you an alternative idea for a name?” Gyro shot back.
The chicken and the hen stared at each other with crossed arms.
“I suppose not,” resigned Gandra. “Team Science more than works.” Her face softened a bit. “This is…this is all really cool.”
“We’re glad to have you, cariño,” Fenton added, squeezing her from behind. He made a mental note to tell Huey of this arrangement once he got down.
“Okay, okay, break it up, you two,” Gyro said in mock disgust. ‘They’ve been apart for so long; they deserve it,’ he reasoned to himself.
“Hey, what’s that purple thing up there?” Boyd asked.
His eyesight was better than the others’, so it took a while for Gyro, Fenton, and Gandra to see what he was talking about.
“It looks like a purple parachute,” Gandra guessed.
Fenton smiled. “I think that’s the Darkwings coming in for a landing.”